One More Night
by Jaykatt
Summary: Tony's more or less accepted that the team, except for Bruce, doesn't really like him. What he can't accept, however, is the way Steve is always bossing him around, being a righteous super soldier supreme. As a result, Tony can't help but being a pain in Steve's neck, because he is Tony Stark, and he is going to teach everyone that not even Captain America can rule over him. Stony
1. Like we're going to war

**A/N:** This is a songfic in the sense that the name of the fic is borrowed from "One More Night" by Maroon 5, the chapters will be named after bits of lyrics, and the story will be vaguely inspired by the song. No lyrics will be included anywhere else. This fic is MCU only.  
The story takes place after the Avengers, but before Iron Man 3.  
The characters belongs to Marvel and the song "One More Night" belongs to Maroon 5.

* * *

"J, put the specs for mark 10 around here", Tony waved his hand around in the air, while using the other one to tighten a few bolts on the new armor. A blue hologram popped up right next to him.

"Here you go, sir. Miss Potts asked me to remind you that you have a meeting with the Avengers in two hours", JARVIS said, sounding as if he already knew what Tony would answer.

"Screw that, this is way more important than their little boy band meeting", he said, throwing pieces of the hologram into the trash can. Fury had contacted him two times since the Battle of New York, demanding that he participate in their oh-so-important meetings. Sure, he had been awesome during their fight with the Chitauri, so he understood why Fury so desperately wanted him to stay on the team, but he had a lot to do within Stark Industries, even if Pepper was CEO. Besides, no one but Bruce seemed to want him on the team, so he might as well let them handle themselves without him.

"Director Fury called you half an hour ago saying, and I quote, 'Stark, if you even think about skipping this meeting, I will have a member of the team come down to your workshop and drag you here'. I suggest you go, sir", JARVIS said, sounding much to sassy for Tony's liking.

"He wouldn't do that", Tony snorted and continued working. "Would he?", he asked Dum-E, who made a noncommittal noise and accidentally dropped the wrench he was holding. It fell to the ground with a loud clank. Tony sighed loudly.

"You idiot, go over there", he pointed to Dum-E's charging station, and the robot wheeled away, looking sad. Tony continued working.

* * *

A few hours later – Tony had lost track of time – there was a loud knock on the glass door to his workshop. He spun around and saw a very angry looking Steve Rogers looking back at him. Of course Fury had to send Rogers, the guy that hated his guts more than anyone else. He mouthed something that looked like 'get over here' but Tony couldn't be sure, what with the soundproof, bulletproof glass. Tony waved at him derisively, and Rogers got a look like he was about to explode. He moved for the door, and Tony quickly dropped the screwdriver he had been holding and rushed over to him. He was sure that Rogers easily would be able to break the door, and Pepper would of course blame Tony even if it hadn't been his fault. Technically. He put his thumb on the fingerprint scanner and the door slid open. The super soldier grabbed Tony by the collar of his black wife-beater and dragged him out of the workshop, towards the elevator.

"You have got to be incredibly self-absorbed and lazy to ignore a meeting that takes place in YOUR OWN building", Steve growled, positively fuming. Tony laughed sarcastically, while trying to wriggle out of Steve's firm hold on his shirt.

"Self-absorbed and lazy? That's what I call self-assured and laid-back, both perfectly good qualities", he said, straightening his shirt after Rogers' harsh treatment. The man in question scoffed.

"You sure can twist words to your advantage", he said and pressed the button to go to the conference floor, then leaning back, clearly trying to get as far away from Tony as possible. Tony pointed to him to make him aware that he had just proved his point.

"Another one of my good qualities", he grinned, knowing that he was pissing him off. The elevator doors slid open and Rogers led the way to the conference room. The only one who looked truly care-free and happy to be there was Thor, who was trying to chat with a tense-looking Bruce. Fury was standing at the end of the table, eye narrowing when Tony and Steve walked in.

"Finally decided to grace us with your presence, Stark?", he said harshly, while Tony and Steve took seats opposite from one another.

"You didn't leave me much choice", Tony commented, annoyed when Fury decided to ignore his jab.

"Your performance during the Battle of New York actually managed to convince the government that the Avengers might be needed after all. Your problem now is that it's been months since the battle, but you're too divided to be a team", he glanced at Tony pointedly. "Do something about it, and quickly".

"The only one who doesn't give a shit about the team is Stark, the only thing he does is fight with Cap", Clint said, loudly. Tony felt like punching him, but remained somewhat calm. He stood up, walking over to Clint, wearing his most menacing I'm-one-of-the-most-powerful-men-in-the-world-face. To his delight, Clint looked slightly nervous.

"You all live in this building, and what does the big, shiny sign on the side of it say?" Tony asked, looking Clint in the eye.

"...Stark", Clint mumbled, looking like he wanted to put an arrow between Tony's eyes.

"That's right, Katniss. I evidently do give a shit. I can't help it if a certain senior citizen has got a problem with me", he said, walking over to his own chair again, looking smug as Cap was sending him death glares.

"You're the one with problems, not me", Rogers commented, pointing at Tony.

"I thought we had this discussion before; what you see as my problems are actually good qualities", Tony protested. Cap got up from his chair, red-faced.

"If you see your problems as good qualities you're either in denial, or an idiot! And both of those 'qualities' makes you badly suited to be an Avenger", Steve snarled in his Captain America voice. Before Tony could tell Cap that his spangly outfit proved that he was the one who was 'badly suited', Fury interrupted them with a loud 'SHUT UP!'.

"If you two can't behave as adults – something I'm expecting from a 43 year old and a 95 year old – I will throw you both off the team!", he shouted, his eye almost twitching comically. Steve sat down immediately, and Tony actually shut up. He actually wanted to be on the team, he just didn't like the boring stuff, like meetings and following orders.

* * *

After briefing them about something Tony hadn't listened to because he nodded off, Fury let them go. Tony was first out of the room, breathing the sweet air of freedom. He had intended to go straight back to his workshop, but a steel grip on his shoulder stopped him. He was spun around, finding himself face to face with Cap.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it", he said, looking as if he contemplated punching some sense into Tony.

"Breathing?", Tony asked, mock-innocently. Steve's nostrils flared angrily.

"You're trying to make me angry. It's childish", Steve replied, shortly, as if he couldn't stand another second in Tony's presence. That was completely fine by him.

"At least I'm just childish, you're a dinosaur", Tony snorted. Bruce chose that moment to walk past him and give him a disappointed shake of the head. Aw shit, maybe he had gone too far. He looked back at Steve and, indeed, he had gone too far. Steve's jaw was tight and his grip on Tony's shoulder had turned vise-like. Tony tried desperately to backtrack.

"Hey Rogers, I was just joking, you know how I can be", he said, trying to sound joking and apologetic at the same time. For a few seconds he thought Steve would hit him, but suddenly he just let go and left. Tony was the only one left outside of the elevators.

"Did I fuck up, J?", he asked nervously.

"I'm afraid so, sir", JARVIS answered him, not sounding surprised in the least. Rude.

"He'll get over it", Tony decided and headed back down to his workshop.

* * *

Tony was working on new arrows for Clint when Bruce walked into his workshop. Tony had obviously given him access to it after the week they all had moved in, because Bruce was the one who made the most sense of them all.

"Hey, Big Green!", Tony said, not daring to look up at him when Dum-E was working so close to his hands with a soldering iron. When he finally did look up, he was met by a look of annoyance. His instincts told him to take a step back to avoid the Hulk's wrath, but he knew Bruce better than to do that.

"You're being really immature towards Cap, and that's coming from a guy who usually puts up with your crap", Bruce said, sitting down on a chair next to Tony. Tony frowned.

"He started it with his righteous-bullshit-attitude. No one can actually be that stuffy for real", he protested, fiddling with the armor. He had been meaning to install more powerful repulsors, but he wasn't sure the armor could take it. The specs floated in the air in front of him and he checked the numbers. Nope, the repulsor upgrade would have to wait for mark 11. He was about to ask JARVIS whether the parts he had ordered for Natasha's Black Widow's Bite had arrived, when he noticed Bruce was still talking.

"-and I really think you should-"

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?", Tony interrupted. Bruce faltered and sighed.  
"Say what again?"

"All of it, I wasn't listening", Tony tried to suppress a grin but, judging by the look on Bruce's face, failed. Bruce shook his head, got up, and left without saying another word. The door slid closed silently after him.

"I'm just pissing everyone off today", Tony snorted, going back to his massive pile of Iron Man parts on the table.

"Sir, would you like me to replay Dr. Banner's one sided conversation with you?", JARVIS asked, once again sounding sassy.

"Quiet J, I'm working", Tony mumbled, trying to keep Dum-E away from snatching parts of metal for the 'shiny-things'-collection Tony knew he had behind his charging station.

* * *

"Sir, you have not eaten or slept for 72 hours, I suggest you go do that", JARVIS commented a few hours later. Tony barked out a laugh. It hadn't been THAT long, J was probably lying on Pepper's orders to try to keep him from passing out on the table again. JARVIS displayed a timer in the top right corner of the armor blueprint he was currently looking at. It said 72:47.

"Does that begin to tick every time I eat and wake up? On who's orders?", he asked, gesturing towards the timer. He already had a good guess that Pepper was the one who had ordered the monitoring. Maybe he should remove her security clearance.

"Yes, sir, it does. Miss Potts gave the order", JARVIS confirmed his suspicions.

"Well that's stupid. Remove it", Tony said, turning back to his blueprints.

"Sir does not have the clearance. If sir does not stop working, I shall have to alert miss Potts", JARVIS said, smugly. Tony groaned in frustration but got up from his chair and made his way to the joint Avengers kitchen, hoping it would be empty. He tried to remember why in the hell he had built a joint kitchen, and not just separate kitchens in everyone's apartments, and he vaguely remembered Fury going on about team spirit and building friendships. How that man could ruin his day when he wasn't even around was a complete mystery to Tony.

He breathed out a sigh of relief when he found that the kitchen was empty. He grabbed the nearest box of cereal and started walking back to his workshop when JARVIS cleared his non-existent throat.

"Real food, sir"

Tony considered throwing a very childish tantrum, but stopped in his tracks when super soldier supreme chose that moment to enter the kitchen. He was wearing his workout clothes and Tony deduced he had been out running. As soon as he laid eyes on Tony, his face grew stone cold. He kept the uncomfortable silence as he went to the fridge to grab a protein shake, apparently pretending Tony wasn't standing in the middle of the kitchen. Tony fished his cell out of his pocket, intending to order a pizza, because there was no way in hell he would cook. He hadn't even begun to dial the number when Rogers coughed loudly to get his attention. He looked up at him, annoyed.

"What?", he asked.

"If you're ordering food, order for the whole team. It's almost lunch time, they're probably hungry too", Steve said, making it sound like an order, rather than a request. Tony scoffed.

"Order it yourself, I don't know what pizzas they like", he said, continuing to dial the number. Suddenly Steve was standing uncomfortably close, looking ready to punch the shit out of him.

"Your selfish attitude might be tolerated by groveling investors, but I'm not going to let it affect how this team works. Either you start caring about people other than you for once, or you quit the team", he growled. Tony was actually surprised; sure, he'd been intolerable towards Cap, but he didn't actually think he would snap like this. Not that he would let him get away with it. He pushed his way past Cap and decided to call for a pizza from his workshop instead.


	2. Throwing things and slamming the door

They landed the quinjet at Stark Towers, and Tony was just preparing to go work his mission nerves away in his workshop, when he was grabbed by the shoulder. When he saw that Rogers was the one who had grabbed him, he resolutely kept his faceplate shut.

"Hawkeye could have gotten killed because of you ignoring orders, Iron Man!", he all but shouted. Tony sighed, the sound coming off strangely metallic through the suit.

"Hawkeye can handle himself, but civilians would have died if I hadn't ignored your orders", Tony said, looking straight into Cap's azure eyes.

"Stop fighting", came Fury's exasperated voice over the com. Cap let go of Tony, reluctantly, and Tony chose that moment to fly away, straight into his workshop.

He waited for the armor to become disassembled and then looked around his workshop. For once, he actually didn't have any ongoing projects.

"What do you say about adding a few floors to the tower, J?", he asked, picking up a pen which he twiddled around his fingers.

"A bad idea, sir. You are not the only one living here now, renovating could cause inconvenience for the other Avengers", JARVIS answered, disapprovingly. Tony threw the pen back onto the table. It was during times like these he wished he hadn't decided to end his relationship with Pepper, even though he knew it was for the best. He had tried to make JARVIS as human-like as possible, but sometimes he just needed to hear what he wanted to hear, and asking JARVIS for advice wouldn't give him that. On second thought, Pepper probably wouldn't tell him what he wanted to hear either.

"You're just no fun", Tony mumbled to JARVIS, who didn't answer.

* * *

Tony was taking the elevator down to the kitchen, when it stopped a few floors up, opening the doors to reveal Cap standing there. He actually seemed to debate whether to get into the elevator with Tony, or to run away, but after a second of careful consideration, he stepped in next to Tony without saying a word.

The elevator continued its descent, and suddenly lurched to a halt again, this time with the emergency light blinking red.

"What the...", Tony said smashing a button on the panel.  
"Sir, there is a power outage. I am working on it, the elevator will be back to functioning shortly", JARVIS said and that actually got Tony worried.

"Power outage? That isn't supposed to happen", he said, sending a quick text to Natasha, telling her to check the circuit panels in the basement. Maybe there was an attack going on.

"Stark, what is happening?", Cap asked, surprisingly sounding slightly... afraid.

"I don't know", Tony answered truthfully. "We might actually be under attack", he said, unlocking his phone when he heard the sound indicating a text. Nat confirmed his suspicions; some of the wires had been cut. He told Steve.

"Your entire house runs on technology, shouldn't you have those cords a bit more hidden?", he asked, sounding enraged. Tony turned to look at him.

"They are very well hidden, thank you very much! The only reason Nat is able to get to them is because JARVIS let her, and because I gave her the pass codes. Yes, codes in plural. There are eight codes! And JARVIS is keeping the place under constant surveillance. Is that safe enough for you?", Tony said, angered that a guy who came from the forties dared to question his ability to keep his tech safe. Steve actually looked away, cheeks reddened.

"Sorry", he mumbled and Tony almost fell over in surprise. He waited for an explanation, which came hesitantly.  
"I just... I'm not too fond of being stuck in small, enclosed spaces. It can make me kinda irrational", he said looking embarrassed. Tony didn't blame him though, he knew how terrible experiences could affect someone. His heartbeat skyrocketed as his mind briefly went to the cave in Afghanistan, and to the hole through the sky created by the Tesseract. He almost shook his head to try to remove the events from his head. Meanwhile, Steve looked at him, concerned.

"I understand",Tony said, pushing at his eyelids with the heels of his hands to try to gain composure. Great, now Cap would see him as a rude piece of shit, AND a maniac. He felt a hand on his shoulder, much gentler than before and he opened his eyes to see Steve looking at him.

"Are you all right?", he asked, looking very concerned. Tony laughed shakily.

"Yeah, I just remembered some shit", he said, trying to smile, but probably failing.

"If you need to talk...", Steve said, tentatively. Tony shook his head no.

"It's okay. I'm working on it, slowly but surely", he said, feeling that he had already told Cap too much about what was going on in his head. Even Bruce didn't know about this. Steve nodded, taking his hand off of Tony's shoulder. Suddenly, the elevator lurched, and, with a metallic groan, it started up again. As soon as the doors opened, Tony made a mad dash for the basement. JARVIS informed him that there was nothing on the security cameras to indicate that someone had been to the basement, but the cut wires were glaring proof that someone had stopped the elevator deliberately.

"I think someone trapped us in the elevator as a decoy. All the Avengers would try to get us out, and we would be trapped. Meanwhile they could be off robbing a bank", Steve said, coming up behind Tony to look at the wires. Not that he understood any of it. Tony turned around to raise a disbelieving eyebrow at him.

"So you think the people who did this", he gestured to the circuit panel. "Are wreaking havoc down in Times Square or somewhere?".

"There have been no reported attacks or robberies that match the time frame of the elevator incident, sir", JARVIS proclaimed. Tony scratched his beard thoughtfully.

"Who and why, then?", he murmured, walking back to the door, Steve following closely behind.

"Maybe just some low-level criminal wanting to mess with you?", he suggested, and Tony snorted loudly.

"Right, because getting past my security system is sooo easy", he said, amused when he glanced over and saw that Cap had gotten red with anger.

"That wasn't what I meant", he murmured. They reached the ground floor where Natasha waited for them.

"Did you find anything?", she asked, knowing full well from searching the basement just a few minutes earlier that there was no trace to be found.

"No", Tony said, shortly. He pushed past Natasha to go to his workshop. He had had far too much unpleasant interaction with his teammates for one day.

* * *

Later that evening, Nat visited Tony in his workshop. Tony hadn't given her the pass code, but he wasn't surprised when she managed to sneak in anyway.

"Have you fixed my batons yet? Fury wants me and Clint to go on a mission", she said, leaning against Tony's desk. Tony grunted affirmatively and gestured towards her weapons in the mess at the table, too busy with calculations to speak. Natasha walked up to him and forcefully turned his head to make him look at her. Tony was about to fall into a tirade of curse words when she interrupted him.

"Do we need to be worried about the presumed break in in the basement?", she asked, sounding all assassin-y. Tony sighed and pursed his lips angrily.

"Probably not, since the only thing they did was cut the power to the elevator", he said, wondering why the hell everyone were getting so worked up over that tiny little incident. For all they knew, it could even have been a rat chewing at wires, although that was highly unlikely.

"I'm amazed you and Cap didn't manage to kill each other while being stuck in there", she laughed while grabbing her batons. The only reason Tony snarl at her for having fun at his expense was because she could be downright scary when provoked. Thankfully, she left him alone to continue working on... what was he working on again? He looked at the numbers floating in front of him but his train of thought was completely gone. To his annoyance, Steve chose that moment to lightly knock on the glass door. The engineer refrained from lunging a chair at him as he let him in. Steve was holding the coffee machine from the kitchen.

"It's broken", he said with a grim face, carefully handing it over to Tony as if it were a beloved, dead, pet. In Tony's eyes, it almost was.

"You killed the coffee machine", he said, coldly. It wasn't a question, because he didn't even care who was responsible for breaking it; the horrible fact that is was broken still remained. His conscience, who sounded strangely much like Pepper, babbled something about not shooting the messenger, but Tony didn't care. He carefully put the machine down at the table and stood up.

"I didn't...", Steve started, but was interrupted by a punch to the face. The force of it made him stagger backwards, and Tony watched as a bruise started forming on his jaw. He knew it would be gone before the day was over, but seeing it calmed his rage somewhat. Steve looked at him in horror.

"You're suspended from the team", he said, clearly struggling to keep his voice calm. Tony wasn't surprised, he had known this would happen sooner or later.

"I'm pretty sure you'll have to talk to Fury about that, before deciding", he said, looking Steve straight in the eye.

"I'm pretty sure he'll agree with me", Steve spat out and left. Tony sat down again, head in his hands.

"Remind me, J, why do I act before I think?", he asked.

"Miss Romanoff's evaluation of you described you as volatile, among other things, sir".

"She might be onto something there", Tony muttered and started working on the coffee machine.


End file.
